Dairy Free Key Lime Pie

Coming up with a dairy free key lime pie recipe was much harder than I thought. After all, the only thing that needed to be changed was the sweetened condensed milk. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t get the recipe to work. That’s when I had a idea–lemon bars!

Lemon bars??? How does that relate to key lime pie??? Well, I decided to make the lemon filling on a lemon bar recipe I came across and use lime instead of lemon, along with a few other minor adjustments. The result? Tasty. Very tasty. But it still didn’t firm up as much as I wanted. So I added some gelatin and viola!!! A perfect key lime pie.

Key lime pie is one of my absolute favorite pies and this recipe is just as good as any other milk-filled pie. Perfect texture, perfect taste, just the right amount of lime… should I go on? No? O.k., here’s the recipe

Start by making the crust: Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl then press mixture into the bottom and sides of a 8 or 9 inch pie pan. Place uncovered in freezer while you make the filling. It should be set by the time you're ready to use it.

In a double boiler (or a pan of boiling water with a stainless steel bowl on top) whisk together the eggs and agave nectar over medium-low heat. Then, zest a lime with a microplane zester and whisk that in as well.

Add the coconut oil...

Then the lime juice (I've heard that if you don't use key limes you should substitute some of the lime juice for lemon juice but I have not tried this) and butter... and continue whisking until completely melted. I know it's tempting to turn up the heat, but you don't want the eggs to curdle so just keep whisking.

Now that everything has melted, turn it up to medium heat and keep whisking until it has thickened and acts like it's going to boil- about 3-5 minutes (If your eggs do start to curdle you can always strain it, but you shouldn't have that problem).

Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla.

In a small bowl, mix together the water and gelatin. Microwave for 30 seconds, or until it starts to boil. Stir until completely dissolved.

withoutadornment- You can definitely taste the lime but I didn’t think it was too strong or overwhelming. If you prefer just a hint of lime you can always reduce the lime juice by 1 or 2 tablespoons. Hope you like it

Thank you for a recipe that is “really” milk free. So many recipes I come across for milk free include using “butter”. I’m severely lactose intolerant and even a small amount of butter will cause a reaction. I’m always baffled by recipes that claim to be lactose free but then include butter. This pie was excellent!

Hi There! I’m Cassidy…

I'm a stay at home mom of 2 and I love to cook! For the well-being of my family I serve up recipes that are gluten, dairy, soy, refined sugar, and mostly grain free. Click here to read more about my story...